RECENT NEWS ARTICLES

This page contains a selection of recent news articles and commentary about male victims of violence and abuse plus related issues. These articles are presented as a community service, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the One in Three Campaign.

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You may have seen the campaign against domestic violence running on Australian television. These ads are part of a $30 million federal campaign designed ‘to help break the cycle of violence against women and their children’. Curiously, it seems to suggest that all of the perpetrators are strictly Caucasian males.

We must speak out loudly and clearly about domestic violence against women, but men and children are also victims of such violence. And yet, from the media reports, public inquiries and official campaigns one would be forgiven to believe that men are the sole perpetrators of domestic violence – and that all men are equally likely to carry out such acts of violence.

The feminist lobby exerts constant pressure to present domestic violence solely as a ‘male problem’, to place all the blame for domestic violence on men as a group. As a result, and based on a radical feminist theory that addresses domestic violence primarily as a male issue that is predicated on so-called ‘patriarchy’, male victims are frequently met with disbelief, even suspicion, when they seek protection from a violent female partner.

A recent Australian study has disproved the claim that men rarely experience violence, abuse, fear, control and coersion after separation.

In October 2015, the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) released its Experiences of Separated Parents Study - part of its evaluation of the 2012 family violence amendments by the Federal Government.

The study examined the experiences of two cohorts of parents, in 2012 and 2014, the latter a total of 6,079 parents who separated between 1 July 2012 and 31 December 2013, representing parents’ post-reform experience of the family law system.

The data indicate that family violence is a common experience among separated parents, with a majority of participating parents in both cohorts reporting either physical or emotional abuse.

These figures make a lie of the oft-repeated claim that "men rarely experience post-separation violence" (for example, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). There was no statistically significant difference between fathers and mothers in the frequency of reporting having often felt fearful after experiencing physical violence or emotional abuse since separation, and fathers were statistically significantly more likely than mothers to report having often felt controlled or coerced after experiencing physical violence or emotional abuse since separation. When it came to severity, fathers were also more likely than mothers to report experiencing the highest level of fear, control and coersion (10 on a 10-point scale) that they felt arising from the focus parent’s behaviour since separation. Experiences of control and coersion were statistically significantly higher for fathers than mothers.

34.6% of parents who reported experiencing between 21 and 55 incidents of emotional abuse before/during separation, and 45.5% of parents who reported between 11 and 20 incidents

42.6% of parents who reported experiencing the highest levels of severity of fear (9 or 10 on a 10-point scale) before/during separation, 43.5% of parents who reported experiencing the most severe control, and 44.6% of parents who reported experiencing the most severe coersion

45.5% of parents who reported experiencing physical hurt since separation

47.4% of parents who reported experiencing emotional abuse (with or without physical hurt) since separation. In 4 out of 13 types of emotional abuse, fathers reported experiencing abuse at equal or higher rates than mothers. In 7 out of 11 types of emotional abuse, fathers reported experiencing abuse “often” at equal or higher rates than mothers.

41.2% of parents who reported experiencing between 21 and 55 incidents of emotional abuse since separation, and 47.2% of parents who reported between 11 and 20 incidents

46.5% of parents who reported often feeling fearful after physical violence since separation, and 48.1% after emotional abuse alone

57.3% of parents who reported often feeling controlled after physical violence since separation, and 59.5% after emotional abuse alone

57.4% of parents who reported often feeling coerced after physical violence since separation, and 60.5% after emotional abuse alone

51.7% of parents who reported experiencing the highest levels of severity of fear (9 or 10 on a 10-point scale) since separation, 60.5% of parents who reported experiencing the most severe control, and 57.6% of parents who reported experiencing the most severe coersion.

The first time Nick’s* wife punched him in the face was because he hadn’t cleaned the bathtub properly.

“At the time I felt that it was my job to fix it,” Nick says, “the male mentality is often that you fix things.”

It was the year after they married and looking back, 45-year-old Nick can see the violence didn’t come out of the blue. His wife — we’ll call her Imogen — was continually picking aggressive verbal arguments with him over minor domestic things, such as how he’d pegged out the clothes on the clothesline.

“One minute she’s lying in a foetal position on the floor and the next, she’s screaming at you that you don’t pay enough attention or you’ve done something wrong,” he says.

Right from the outset, Nick says Imogen worked towards isolating him from his close-knit family.

Statistically one in four women and one in six men suffer from domestic abuse, and within these abusive relationships a vast percentage are non-violent. These relationships operate on the premise of take take take.

Victims are isolated, controlled, told how to dress, what to eat, when to sleep. They are not allowed to work and are manipulated by threats of violence, rape, or the intervention of social services to take away children. They are humiliated and degraded, and reality is continuous fear and uncertainty.

This is coercive control. This is domestic abuse, and is now a crime in its own right.

The offence of Coercive and Controlling behaviour can be considered if “the perpetrators behaviour has had “serious effect” on the victim, meaning that it has caused the victim to fear violence will be used against them on at least two occasions or it has had a substantial adverse effect on the victims day to day activities.” The maximum prison term is five years.

That is why the Surrey Against Domestic Abuse partnership has launched a campaign to promote the help and support available to people experiencing domestic abuse. Named ‘Give and Take’, this campaign also seeks to make friends and family of those who are being abused by a partner or family member more aware of their role in taking action. Domestic abuse can happen to both men and women and regardless of sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, class, religion or physical ability.

Throughout the campaign, we will be using the hashtag #behindcloseddoors on Twitter. Join in the conversation and help us encourage more people to seek support and safety.

If you know someone who is experiencing domestic abuse, take action. You can do this by:

A comprehensive literature review demonstrates the risk factors that contribute to the prevalence of domestic violence. Gender stereotypes and gender inequality are not present. Taxpayer resources would be better spent addressing the risk factors for domestic violence and exploring solutions that have been proven to make a real reduction in prevalence rates.

The picture of gender in Australia is not that either men or women fare better overall, but that each gender has its areas that need improvement. Governments need to work hard to ensure that all Australians, whether born male, female or intersex, have the opportunity to live happy, healthy, productive lives, and to fulfil their potential.

Research shows that the vast majority of relationships involve equal power between partners. Relationships in which one partner is dominant are in the minority, and are just as likely to be female-dominant as male-dominant.

By reducing the existing gender inequality in service provision for victims of domestic and family violence, as recommended by all major recent inquiries, governments will reduce the prevalence of domestic violence.

We are concerned that supporting a position that gender inequality contributes to the prevalence of domestic violence may overlook the fact that women are the greatest family violence risk to children, and is likely to prevent addressing of this issue to increase the safety of children.

Gender stereotypes about men (that they should be tough and strong) prevent many male victims from disclosing their abuse because of the challenges such disclosure brings to their sense of manhood.

Existing attitudes by young people to both violence against women and violence against men need to be improved. Any campaigns targeting children and young people should be presented in a gender-neutral fashion with the aim of encouraging respectful relationships whether young people are male, female or intersex, straight or gay.

In order to carry out our aim of raising public awareness of the existence and needs of male victims of family violence, the One in Three Campaign encourages all media, whether mainstream media, websites, blogs or social media, to widely share our material with attribution. However, use of our material by any third party is not a sign of endorsement or affiliation between that party and One in Three. In order to carry out our aim of working with governments to provide better assistance to those affected by family violence, the One in Three Campaign works actively with all sides of the political spectrum but is unaffiliated with any political party or position.